Welcome to 3rdWard.org, a website dedicated to communication and transparency between Des Plaines City Government and you. This website, maintained by 3rd Ward Alderman Denise Rodd, is designed to keep neighbors engaged in their community and informed about issues.

Entries in Committee Assignments
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Last night's meeting was highly anticipated...for good reason. The Committee on Committees met to decide which Aldermen were assigned to each of the 8 committees. What does that mean? Well, the 8 of us sat in a room until we figured out who was going to take chairmanship, vice chairmanship, or membership position on each working team within city government. Road issues are sent to Engineering, budget issues are sent to Finance, etc etc.

Before voting on the committee positions, a resident made a passionate argument in favor of changing the city's code to allow beekeeping. We'll likely consider this at a future meeting date so feel free to send me your thoughts on the subject.

Here's how the committees shook out:

Committee Name - Chairman, Vice Chair, Member

Community Development - Haugeberg, Walsten, & Sayad

Finance & Admin - Bogusz, Sayad, & Wilson

Engineering - Sayad, Haugeberg, & Robinson

Public Safety - Walsten, Brookman, & Charewicz

Legal & Licensing - Robinson, Wilson, & Bogusz

Public Works - Brookman, Bogusz, & Haugeberg

Community Service - Wilson, Charewicz, & Walsten

Building Codes - Charewicz, Robinson, & Brookman

The proposed body shop behind Foremost Liquors on Lee Street was approved after the owner successfully cleaned up the facility.

Newly elected Alderman Michael Charewicz provided a brief tutorial on how to pronounce his name. First, he would rather not be reminded of his mother's "Michael!!!", and he prefers Mike. Second, his last name should be pronounced like chair-wits (like the "chair" you sit on and the "wits" you have). As a lifelong victim of mispronunciations I appreciate his clarification.